Even after the Texas football team won its first two games this season, beating then-No. 1 Ohio State along the way, Steve Sarkisian found flaws that the Longhorns needed to address.
“Our third down defense has to improve,” the UT coach told reporters last Monday.
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That statement was a call to action for the No. 1-ranked Longhorns, who allowed Texas State and Ohio State to convert 14 of their combined 28 third-down attempts. That 50% failure rate ranked 125th among 138 Football Bowl Subdivision-level teams.
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On Saturday, though, Texas took some steps to address Sarkisian’s concerns. As the defense led the way to a 30-6 win over UTSA at Royal-Memorial Stadium, the Longhorns surrendered only one third-down conversion. The Roadrunners had 11 third-down tries.
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“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but defensively I love how we’re playing, especially with the emphasis of us being on third down,” UT linebacker Justin Cryer said. “We came out and responded to coach publicly challenging us by being better on third down. We’ve got to keep that going and we’ll move into SEC play.”
UTSA receiver DJ Allen Jr (15) misses a catch during the game against Texas at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sep. 19, 2026 in Austin. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman)
Texas stops UTSA on final 10 third downs
UTSA actually converted its first attempt on third down. But the chain gang would move less frequently after that. The biggest of those stops came in the Texas red zone during the first quarter as Colin Simmons‘ sack forced the Roadrunners to kick a field goal in a still-competitive game.
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With UTSA needing an average of 12.2 yards to extend its drives, here’s how the Texas defense fared on third downs:
Q1, third and 1 at Texas 43: A’Marion Peterson 2-yard run (1st down)
Q1, third and 10 at Texas 11: Owen McCown sacked by Colin Simmons (punt)
Q2, third and 12 at UTSA 23: McCown incompletion (punt)
Q2, third and 8 at UTSA 27: McCown incompletion (punt)
Q2, third and 15 at UTSA 46: McCown 6-yard run (punt)
Q2, third and 23 at UTSA 12: McCown 3-yard pass (punt)
Q3, third and 12 at Texas 25: McCown incompletion (field goal)
Q3, third and 6 at UTSA 25: McCown incompletion (punt)
Q3, third and 13 at UTSA 20: Will Henderson III 2-yard run (punt)
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Q4, third and 16 at UTSA 19: McCown 13-yard pass (punt)
Q4, third and 18 at UTSA 30: Brandon High 2-yard run (punt)
“Last week, we weren’t where we were with the third-down marks, so it was a ‘prove us right’ mentality,” said Texas defensive back Graceson Littleton, who broke up a third-down pass toward the end zone in the third quarter. “I think we did that very efficiently tonight, and I think we’re going to take that on the road with us to Knoxville.”
So why were things different against UTSA than against Texas State, which was 8-for-14 on third downs, or Ohio State, which went 6-for-14? Cryer credited the defense’s communication and tackling. And Littleton pointed on preparation during the week and defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s calls.
Is Texas better on third down? A test at Tennessee awaits.
Texas held UTSA to two field goals and a measly 142 yards of total offense. The Roadrunners failed to score a touchdown for the first time since a 24-3 loss to Florida Atlantic during the 2020 season.
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That 24-point triumph closed out nonconference play for Texas, and the AP poll-topping Longhorns will head to No. 14 Tennessee this weekend for its SEC opener. Like Texas, Tennessee is 3-0 after opening its season with wins over Furman, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State.
This season, Tennessee has converted 17 of its 35 third-down tries. The 48.6 percentage currently ranks seventh in the SEC.
This article originally published at Challenged by Steve Sarkisian, Texas’ defense steps up on third downs just in time for SEC.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
